Freedom, As Easy as 1,2,3 ?

     Progress is seldom easy.  During a 4^th of July picnic, a father and son decided to try their hand at riding a tandem bike.  Finally, making it to the top of the hill, the father, all out of breath, turned to the boy and said, “That was sure some climb!”  The boy, also huffing and puffing, responded, “Yeah, but I’m sure we would have slid right down to the bottom of the hill if I hadn’t had the brakes on the whole way.”  Crazy as it sounds, this is precisely the main hindrance to spiritual progress—putting on the brakes.  As we approach a time when our country celebrates its freedom, let’s take a look at the very thing that keeps it in bondage—refusing to go God’s way.

     Let’s begin at the beginning—Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  First of all, let me be very clear—this is not a fictional story—if it were, the Bible would have said so, as it does concerning parables.  Adam and Eve really did exist.  Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Luke 3 includes Adam in the genealogy of Jesus, and Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15, also vitally links the two men.  If Adam and Eve were fictional, so is Jesus!  Having said that, let’s take a look at the very specific call upon this first couple in the Garden of Eden.  Genesis 2:15 tells us, “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden to dress it and to keep it.”  The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, shows this word “garden” to be “paradeisos,” and it refers to an enclosure owned by a king.  This “paradise” was to provide beauty for the king, as well as a bounty of fresh fruits and vegetables.  Obviously, even this garden called Eden would need to be worked and tilled, i.e. “dressed.”  But Adam was also supposed to “keep” it—that is, to hedge it about as with thorns.  In other words, he was to protect it from any outside influence that would pervert its beauty and its fruitfulness.

     Eve was to help with this: “And the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.’” (2:18) She was to aid him—helping him to protect the garden by helping him to surround it—once again, guarding it like a thorny hedge.  It all seems so easy—beautiful garden, beautiful people, beautiful God—nothing could possibly stop the growth, progress, and fruitfulness of this paradise!  Easy as 1,2,3!  No, actually, it would all turn out to be as easy as 1,2,3,4!  What are these numbers all about?  NUMBER ONE is the call itself—the singleness of purpose and vision, the guarding from all intruders.  But the first couple put on the brakes and let down their guard, and in came destruction.  How easily they would exchange their total freedom for total bondage! 

     Genesis 3 tells the story: “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.  And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden?  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:  But of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”  Now we can see NUMBER TWO—this subtle, cunning, and crafty creature, possessed by Satan himself, presents Eve with two extremes—AND gets by with it.  In essence, he says that God is too loving to judge AND He is also too hard to please.  Such is Satan’s lie today, filling people with doubts and mis- understandings concerning the very nature of God.  In reality, God’s judgment IS His love, for if He didn’t convict people of their sin today and draw them to repentance in this Day of Salvation, they would ultimately stand at the Last Day in sin, and thereby, be utterly condemned.  God must condemn sin and destroy it, and this He did in Jesus, who took your sin and mine and was destroyed.  Praise God—receive this amazing gift and live in it!

     If Eve had trusted in God and His truth, she wouldn’t have believed the lie.  Her twisted response is 3-fold, and this is NUMBER THREE.  She added to the word, altered that word, and even left something out.  In so doing, she resisted the will of God, rejected the word of God, and deserted the way of God.  How exactly did she do that?  First, she understated the privilege, claiming that God had said that they may eat, when He really said that they could FREELY eat, intimating that they surely could consume and devour the offered fruit.  Many today are looking to just accept Jesus, instead of consuming Him and being consumed by Him.  Secondly, she overstated the prohibition, asserting that God had commanded that they not even touch it, when He said nothing of the kind.  Likewise, many today are trying to portray the commands of Christ to be burdensome, making Him into a very hard God.  In so doing, they rationalize their right to not be obedient.  Thirdly, she underrated the penalty, suggesting that God had only said it was possible that they would die.  No, God was very clear about that—that very day, they would surely die.  Obviously, physical death would come later, but they did indeed die that day—they died spiritually!

    How could this possibly happen?  Genesis 3: 6 says, “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”  Essentially, both of them put on the brakes.  It is bad enough when one does it, but now they both come to a screeching halt.  How?  Well, we have seen some of the “twists,” now let’s see the “turns.”  Hence, NUMBER FOUR—yes, four turns.  First, a look turns into a lust.  Do you remember the old Sunday School song—“Be careful little eyes what you see?”  There is a very good reason that this is taught early on—the eyes are the portal to the entire life.  That is, what comes in through them affects, and yes, infects, your spirit.  Immerse your eyes in ungodly TV, movies, magazines, and such, and you will indeed be deeply influenced by them.  Soon, a lust for it develops and now you don’t desire much else.  And it doesn’t stop there—a desire turns into a decision.  Your thoughts and desires are now acted upon—more and more, things that dishonor the Lord are brought into your life.  Thirdly, a choice turns into a chain—a chain made up of links, each one dependant upon the others for its strength.  The more you act upon your lusts, the more you continue to do so, and the chain is not easily broken.  And this is Satan’s purpose—bondage, while you think you are free.  In this, we see the 4^th “turn”—to turn a sinner into a seducer.  Satan is not content to just influence you to put on your spiritual brakes—he is intent on you influencing others.  It might be by encouraging others to not submit fully to the Lord and His ways, and thereby lead them to choose an easier way.  Many do this by pointing to others, whose lives don’t line up with the Word, and then insist that they are saved just because they have spoken the name of Jesus or have sung some songs about Him.  This false understanding of grace only leads to an obedience-free freedom, which is no freedom at all, and the sinner has become the seducer.

     Many don’t worry about it, though, for they can always shift the blame and shout, “Your God is too hard!”  Is He?  Remember—there are many things in this life that we can afford to be wrong about, but God is not one of them.  Oh, many will still have their “theologies” to back themselves up, but the brakes are on and they get absolutely nowhere.  Their freedom in Christ has become freedom from Christ—the most tragic bondage of all!  But praise God—today is the Day of Salvation, so repent and go God’s way.  In Genesis 3:15, God tells Satan, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”  Though Satan will nip at your heels and try to trip you up, be encouraged—in the end, his head is crushed.   In the mean time, keep pedaling—make sure the brakes are off, quit looking for an easy way, and trust Father God to get you all of the way to the top of the hill.  This is freedom—going God’s way!

Throughout the year 2001, we will be providing you with Bible readings from Genesis to Revelation to help you live in His freedom.

July 1               Jeremiah 21-24                    16                        Ezekiel 25-28

2                      Jeremiah 25-28                    17                        Ezekiel 29-32

3                      Jeremiah 29-32                    18                        Ezekiel 33-36

4                      Jeremiah 33-36                    19                        Ezekiel 37-40

5                      Jeremiah 37-40                    20                        Ezekiel 41-44

6                      Jeremiah 41-44                    21                        Ezekiel 45-48

7                      Jeremiah 45-48                    22                        Daniel 1-4

8                      Jeremiah 49-52                    23                        Daniel 5-8

9                      Lamentations                          24                        Daniel 9-12

10                    Ezekiel 1-4                             25                        Hosea 1-4

11                    Ezekiel 5-8                             26                        Hosea 5-8

12                    Ezekiel 9-12                           27                        Hosea 9-11

13                    Ezekiel 13-16                         28                        Hosea 12-14

14                    Ezekiel 17-20                         29                        Joel

15                    Ezekiel 21-24                         30                        Amos 1-4

                                                                        31                        Amos 5-9

 

August 1          Obadiah                                  3                        Micah 1-4

2                      Jonah                                       4                        Micah 5-7